Accomplishments of the 117th Congress

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hoyer for his leadership and for his belief in and commitment to our country.

As the proud representative of Region 6, which is Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, I join my colleagues in recognizing the transformative laws that we passed in the last Congress and the efforts now to ensure that these investments in America are investments in every community, in every corner of our country.

In our region, we are already seeing the impact of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and so much more.

I was glad to work with my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus on these bills and, of course, to vote for them and to see President Biden sign them into law because they have the purpose and the effect of ensuring that the United States remains a beacon of excellence in science and technology and engineering and innovation with the infrastructure in place to support that work, to ensure that the things that we dream up, we make right here at home.

I am so glad to report that the Invest in America agenda is mobilizing historic levels not only of Federal investments but also of private-sector investments in the United States, bringing manufacturing back to America.

Just last month, while I was home, I got to join in a ribbon cutting at a new Igloo cooler distribution facility in my region because they were producing so much--16 million coolers annually--that they needed to expand production space and create new storage and shipping space.

That is not surprising. At the end of last year, American manufacturing growth began outpacing the rest of the world.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in July showed that Region 6 is at the heart of that growth. In Arizona, LG Energy is quadrupling its initial planned investment to $5.5 billion to build a new plant outside of Phoenix that will produce enough batteries to power 350,000 electric vehicles per year.

So far, companies have committed to invest more than $58 billion in the Grand Canyon State since President Biden took office. In New Mexico, Intel is investing $3.5 billion to expand manufacturing of advanced semiconductor technology at its Rio Rancho campus, creating an expected 700 new jobs. Companies have committed to invest more than $6 billion in the Land of Enchantment.

In Texas, Samsung has announced plans to build a $17 billion semiconductor fabrication plant. Just up the road, Texas Instruments is in the early stages of a $30 billion CHIP project. So far, six projects totaling $61 billion in investments are expected to create 8,000 new jobs in Texas alone.

Since the Chips and Science Act was introduced, more than 50 new U.S. semiconductor projects have been announced, totaling more than $210 billion in investments. We are just getting started.

I look forward to continuing the work with my colleagues on the Regional Leadership Council and President Biden and his administration to continue to invest in America and to ensure that these laws benefit all Americans--not blue States, not red States, but the United States. We are putting people over politics.

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